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2026-01-18 09:24:50

Solana Co-Founder Anatoly Yakovenko Warns Solana Must Keep Upgrading or It Dies

Solana Labs co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko drew a clear line between Solana’s long-term strategy and Ethereum’s philosophy. He argued that Solana must keep evolving to survive, even as Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin pushes for blockchains to outlive active developer influence. Yakovenko shared his view after Buterin discussed the idea that Ethereum should eventually pass a longevity benchmark. That benchmark would allow the chain to run for decades with minimal developer involvement. However, Yakovenko said that mindset risks turning a blockchain into something outdated. He emphasized that networks must keep adapting to developers and users, or they lose relevance. Significantly, Yakovenko framed upgrades as a survival requirement, not a luxury. He said protocol improvements should focus on solving practical problems for developers and users. At the same time, he suggested teams must reject most feature requests. Hence, Solana should stay focused on usefulness rather than broad approval. AI Development Could Become Solana’s Next Growth Engine Additionally, Yakovenko described a future where transaction activity creates enough economic value to fund continuous development. He suggested Solana’s fee model could help developers support upgrades over time. Moreover, he pointed to AI-assisted coding as a tool that could speed up improvements across the ecosystem. He also signaled that Solana should never rely on one team for progress. Consequently, he expects new contributors to build future versions as the chain matures. He even suggested governance mechanisms could eventually fund the computing power needed to produce upgrades. SOL Slips as Traders Watch Key Zones Source: CoinCodex Solana’s price moved lower in the last 24 hours. SOL traded near $142.27 with a daily decline of 1.28%. However, weekly performance stayed positive with a 4.62% increase. The token held a market cap near $80.4 billion with 570 million in circulation. According to INSIDER, the chart setup still supports a bullish local outlook. The analyst said Solana broke a weekly downtrend line after a sharp selloff. Consequently, the next area of interest sits between $160 and $170. Traders may take profits there due to prior supply pressure. Source: X Analysts Compare SOL’s Phase to ETH’s Past curb.sol compared Solana’s long consolidation to Ethereum’s cycle before its major run. The analyst said SOL has ranged between $100 and $300 for nearly two years. Consequently, the pattern reminded him of ETH’s 2019 to 2020 base. curb.sol said he used that period to accumulate Ethereum and now takes the same approach with Solana. Moreover, he repeated a long-term view that SOL can eventually reach $1000. Still, traders continue watching support zones for any deeper retracement toward $100.

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